


anew

by fio



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alien Planet, Alternate Reality, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, M/M, Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-20
Updated: 2019-01-20
Packaged: 2019-10-13 00:34:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17477927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fio/pseuds/fio
Summary: It's a new year—somewhere in the universe, anyway. With a little help from the crew, Shiro and Keith get to ring it in together.





	anew

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cosmicbees](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosmicbees/gifts).



> written for the holiday exchange on the beginnings zine discord! the request was simply some soft sheith, i hope this delivers! splits off from canon post-s7.

Peace time was no less busy for the Atlas crew and Team Voltron than it had been before. Organizing planet recoveries, reestablishing galactic trade routes, mediating peace talks and overseeing diplomatic visits... Even for Shiro, who never shied away from a daunting workload and loved the challenge of his job, it did feel a bit overwhelming at times. He wasn't about to let that slow him down, of course, but there was a powerful loneliness in seeing Voltron and its paladins only for work, rarely getting a moment of downtime to share together.

Data file in hand, Shiro made his way to the bridge, ready for another meeting to discuss the planet the Atlas had landed on, what groundwork had already been laid by the coalition, and what was left to be done. Except the moment the door slid open, a very irritated Veronica snatched away his handheld device and folded her arms across her chest.

" _This_ is getting confiscated and you are not stepping foot inside," she said, with such certainty Shiro nearly forgot he was the higher ranking one between the two of them. He stared at her in confusion and surprise, gaping like a fish for a second while the bridge filled with poorly hidden giggles.

"I. I don't think you can order me to do that," he said, not very convincingly.

Veronica shrugged, then nodded her head in the direction of the crew. "We have collectively decided to mutiny until our commanding officer has had a proper break. That means _you_ , sir."

Shiro blinked at her. "Are you really staging a mutiny just to make me take a coffee break?"

"Not a coffee break, I'm talking about real _rest_ , Shiro." Her expression shifted into concern as she pointed to the others at their seats, all of them looking at him seriously. "The rest of us work in shifts, we rotate in and out of here, but you're always at the head of things and you _need_ to take some time off. Even just a day. The work's less dangerous than it was before but you can't help anybody if you're run so ragged you can't see how exhausted it's making you."

"I'm not..." he started to protest, but he couldn't make himself finish. He _had_ just been thinking about how lonely and tired the work made him. But he thought he'd been hiding it well. In a quiet voice he asked, "Do I really look that bad?"

"Awful. Sir."

There was a chorus of murmured agreement from the rest of the bridge, and Shiro sighed.

"How long is this mutiny in effect?"

"At _least_ twenty-four hours. Come back and check tomorrow, depending on how much rest you get, we might kick you out for longer."

"Okay, okay, I got it," he said, admitting defeat and backing away from the bridge.

He wasn't sure what he was going to do with this forced respite from duty. His first thought was to contact Keith, but he tried to squash down the impulse. As much as Shiro wanted to see him, he couldn't interrupt Keith and the other paladins just because he had some downtime.

But as if reading his mind, before he walked out of her view Veronica called after him, "I heard from Lance that the paladins finished up their meet-and-greet with the planet's representatives today, so they have no work to do for a while! Y'know. In case you were wondering."

When he turned around, he could see her knowing grin even from the opposite end of the corridor and felt his ears go hot. Apparently he couldn't hide _anything_ from his bridge crew.

**

Shiro waited until he reached his quarters to make the call, because even if everyone knew exactly who he was calling, he at least wanted some privacy about it. But it became a moot point immediately when the screen opened and instead of Keith, Shiro was greeted by Pidge and Hunk's curious faces.

"Uh. Hello? Isn't this Keith's room?" Shiro tried to ask, but they didn't seem to be listening.

"No way, Veronica already pulled it off?" 

"I thought it'd take a week for him to give up and take a break."

"Ugh, this means Allura wins the betting pool."

Shiro's eyes narrowed at them. "Exactly _how_ many people am I going to be court-martialing for planning that mutiny?"

Pidge and Hunk froze at the sound of Shiro's serious tone, finally remembering he was on the other side of the call. After a moment they pulled back from the camera, gave each other a meaningful look, and then shouted a simultaneous, "Bye, Shiro!" as they ducked out of view to escape. Left behind in their very-clearly-guilty wake was a bewildered Keith, still in the middle of changing out of his paladin armor while he watched them flee from his room.

_Well._ Obviously there was some conspiracy going on here between his subordinates and the Voltron team. But its aim seemed to be getting Shiro some needed time off with additional not-so-subtle nudging to spend it with Keith, so instead of court-martials he was probably going to be giving everyone thank-you gifts later.

Shiro cleared his throat and pulled Keith's attention to the screen, letting him see the way Keith's eyes got big and happy at the sight of him, just like they always did after a long time apart. It made Shiro's chest squeeze and he beamed, already feeling his tiredness fading away. 

"Hey, Keith," Shiro said, the greeting simple and familiar but warm as ever.

"Hi, Shiro," Keith said, his mouth turning up into a small smile. But it vanished quickly, making Shiro's heart sink. "Sorry, did they interrupt you? I kept telling them I couldn't call you just because we have some time off, I know you're probably busy."

Laughter bubbled out of Shiro, lifting his heart right back out of his stomach as Keith's eyebrows knit together. There was something just so _them_ about Keith fretting over the same things Shiro had earlier without either of them saying a word about it. It wasn't a surprise that Keith hadn't been included in the planning of the mutiny, and Shiro was now starting to get the idea that this had been arranged to benefit Keith, too. 

"No, actually, I'm the one who called you," Shiro pointed out once he'd calmed his laughter.

"Oh."

Keith blinked, his frown easing. He was still dressed only in his black undersuit, his change of clothes forgotten somewhere Shiro couldn't see through the video call, and he looked so cute that Shiro momentarily lost track of why he'd called in the first place. Before he could remember to explain, Keith's eyes widened and started to shine.

"So, does that mean...?" he asked, uncertain but hopeful. 

It took Shiro a second to snap out of his daze, but he nodded quickly. "I have been forcibly removed from my post, so I've got nothing to do for at least twenty-four hours, and I was hoping to spend them with you. If you wanted—"

"I'll be right there," Keith said in a rush, the screen going dark as he hung up.

With the size of the Atlas, it took some time to get between the paladins' rooms near where the lions were stored and all the way up to Shiro's quarters near the bridge. Or at least, it _usually_ did, for anyone who didn't have a space wolf. But Shiro had barely turned around when the air in the room rushed past his face to make space for the two bodies who spontaneously appeared, Keith leaping forward the moment his feet touched the floor for Shiro to catch him with ease.

Wordlessly, Keith reached up and wrapped his arms tight around Shiro's neck and Shiro's left arm held Keith in kind, keeping him tucked tight against his chest. Shiro let the embrace pull him down a bit to match Keith's height while his free-roaming hand floated lower. Relief pushed out of him with every in-sync breath they took and stroke of Keith's fingers along his neck. He'd been given a day of free time to do anything he wanted—besides work—but he couldn't think of anything better than standing here like this, his right hand settled over Keith's ass like it belonged there.

"Hey," Shiro whispered after a while, wanting to feel Keith's whole body shiver at the sudden sound of his low voice. The instant response—a sharp inhale and fingers reflexively tightening where they'd been dragging across Shiro's skin—made Shiro beam. He could feel Keith holding his breath in anticipation as Shiro brought his lips close against his ear, teasing him with a light kiss into his hair before pointing out, "You forgot to get dressed."

The next moment he felt a dull pinch as Keith's mouth found his collarbone and bit him gently in reply.

"I'm not _complaining_ ," Shiro laughed, but Keith finally loosened his hold around Shiro to pull back and look down at himself.

"Oh." He frowned for a moment, then pressed his cheek tight against Shiro's chest as he turned to Kosmo and looped his arms lazily over Shiro's shoulders again. "Hey, buddy, can you go back and grab my uniform?"

But the large wolf didn't look interested in doing favors at the moment, instead tilting his head and letting out a low whine. 

"Aww, he doesn't have to go yet, I haven't even said hello." Shiro let his right hand float forward to scratch between Kosmo's ears. "I missed you, too, buddy."

Keith hummed as he watched Kosmo melt into a big, furry pile the longer Shiro scratched him. "I want to show you something, but I shouldn't walk around on this planet in just this... We just made a good first impression with the locals, what if they think I'm walking around in my underwear?"

Shiro snorted at the mental image of Keith waltzing around the planet in his boxers, but he was proud of Keith's consideration of the team's reputation. He wasn't usually concerned with his appearance or what others might think—and had _definitely_ let himself be seen walking to and from Shiro's quarters on at least one occasion wearing little more than his underwear—but he wasn't willing to ignore his responsibility of representing the team even when he was off-duty.

"You can wear something of mine," Shiro offered. "But do we have to go right now?"

He had a whole day off to do whatever, and it was hard to want to go out and share Keith with the rest of the universe again when they finally had some time to themselves. Pulling his hand back from Kosmo, who was now contented and sprawled across the floor, Shiro found Keith's waist and hugged him close.

"No, it won't be ready until later anyway," Keith said, his words muffled between Shiro's chest and the tight embrace. He said something else, but it came out a quiet mumble, swallowed by Shiro's uniform.

"What was that?"

"And I wanted us to make out first," Keith repeated at a much louder volume, making Shiro laugh.

With a slight adjustment of his grip, Shiro easily lifted him off the ground and brought Keith's startled face in line with his own. "Me, too."

Keith's cheeks were burning a little pink as he started to smile, leaning in to bite gently at Shiro's lip once before _finally_ claiming his mouth with a kiss.

**

Shiro woke to the sound of fingers softly tapping on a screen and the occasional slap of Kosmo's tail across his legs. He didn't open his eyes as he groaned and squeezed around the warm body curled up against his chest.

"When did I fall asleep?" he croaked, annoyed with himself. Even if it had only been a short nap, he was unhappy to waste any of his and Keith's time together.

"About three minutes after hitting the bed," Keith answered.

Shiro finally blinked a bleary eye open to glance down at himself and saw he was still mostly dressed, except the top few buttons of his uniform had been undone. He did remember carrying Keith over to his bunk and both of them kicking off their shoes while they made out, but apparently Keith had tried to continue getting him properly undressed before giving up when Shiro proved to be a lost cause. 

"Sorry," he groaned, burying his face between Keith's neck and his shoulder. While Shiro had napped, he'd stripped out of his undersuit and down to his actual underwear, allowing Shiro to kiss at his bare skin now. Keith made a contented noise and stretched to offer more of his neck for Shiro to kiss, like a contented cat demanding more affection. Still groggy, Shiro let his eyes close again and between slow, soft presses of his lips up and down Keith's nape he mumbled, "I swear I didn't _feel_ that tired when you got here... you just make me feel so relaxed, I couldn't help it."

Keith hummed, practically a purr at being told so. "I'm glad I could help you rest. And you woke up just in time, it should be ready for us to go see now."

But Shiro grumbled loudly when Keith tried to slide out from beneath his arm and away from his kisses, squeezing him tight to keep him in place. Keith laughed at his stubbornness but let Shiro hold him still, reaching down to where Shiro's hand was splayed across his stomach and lacing their fingers together.

"Where are we going?" he asked, both to delay Keith leaving his embrace and to find out what mysterious thing Keith was planning to show him.

"A place to celebrate."

"... Is there a party happening on this planet or something?"

Instead of answering himself, the sound of more soft taps were followed by the voices of Sam Holt and a few other officers stationed on Earth loudly shouting, _"Happy New Year!"_ Intrigued, Shiro peaked over Keith's shoulder to watch the video playing on the screen of his tablet.

"The Atlas received this earlier," Keith explained as the familiar faces clinked glasses and cheered. 

In his downtime, Shiro always tried to check for messages from the Holts since they were the closest thing he had to family back on Earth. But with no downtime to speak of, this was the first time he was seeing it. It was a bit odd for Keith to be the one catching _him_ up to speed on casual crew news—he was usually just as out of the loop as Shiro on these sorts of things if not more, since they were always focused on their _own_ loop—but he was pleased by it, too. 

_"...and we know you're all busy out there, but make sure you take a day or two to celebrate or at least take a break when you can. It is the holiday season after all!"_ Sam was saying while pulling on a party hat. Realizing this message was probably what sparked the mutiny, Shiro couldn't help but snort, not sure if Sam would be happy or worried to hear about that.

"So... Do you want to go? Celebrate, I mean." Keith asked once the video finished, squeezing Shiro's fingers with his. "Or do you need to rest a while longer?"

With how much traveling they did between planets and systems with wildly differing orbits, they didn't adhere to any calendar in particular and time moved differently for them while jumping through space compared to back on Earth, so it felt a bit silly to celebrate a new year. But if Keith was hoping to take Shiro someplace he thought was worth showing him for the occasion, he wasn't about to turn him down.

As long as they could make out for another five minutes first, he decided. Keith happily agreed.

**

"Not gonna take the Black Lion?" Shiro asked as they walked past it. 

Despite Shiro's offer to lend him some clothes, they'd gone back to Keith's room briefly so he could change into his more casual outfit after Keith pointed out that he wasn't going to fit into Shiro's pants. And _both_ of them knew if Keith walked around in only one of Shiro's tops, they'd never leave bed anyway. Shiro had swapped out his uniform for a comfortable jacket and casual slacks, the two of them wanting to look less like the two leaders of the visiting diplomatic teams and more like regular tourists as they headed out onto the planet. 

"Can't. It's too big, it'd scare everything off before we even landed, same with the rest of the ships we've got on board. We can take it someplace else next time, though."

Shiro hummed curiously at that, looking up at the large lion. If even the smaller ships were a no-go, that explained why Keith had told Kosmo to stay behind when they'd been leaving his room. No cockpit would make traveling with an ever-growing space wolf a bit complicated. Before he looked away, the lion's eyes flashed for just a moment as if in greeting, though it was quick enough that it could've been just his imagination.

"So how _are_ we getting to this mysterious place?"

Keith looked up at him with a big grin. "I asked Pidge to help me find something more... lowkey."

Jogging ahead as they reached the end of the large ship bay, Keith pulled out a small speeder from where it had been tucked behind the MFE ships. Shiro was grinning too as he slid into the seat behind Keith, giving him a teasing squeeze at his waist while he turned the engine on.

"Too bad she couldn't scrounge up two. I'd race you there."

"One, you don't even know where we're going, and two, I'd smoke you anyway," Keith shot back with a smirk before handing him a pair of goggles. "Now hold on tight."

It was Shiro's first opportunity to see the planet through more than just the screens on the bridge or files on his tablet as Keith drove them out of the Atlas. But while he knew the atmosphere here kept the air looking green, it was impressive to see it up close. They'd been to places with purple and pink and other blinding neon skies by now so it wasn't the weirdest experience, but there was a relaxing beauty to it and even with the different color he could tell it was sunset as the triplet suns started to disappear in the distance.

Beneath the sky, the terrain was mostly swamp, so despite Keith's boasting he was actually driving fairly slow—for Keith standards, anyway. He easily kept them on the driest parts of the path or on the bridges between dry areas to avoid kicking up too much of the water into the speeder's engines and ruining their ride. Shiro enjoyed the leisurely pace compared to the usual breakneck speeds they raced at, resting his chin on Keith's shoulder and watching the funky wildlife they drove past.

He had noticed that there had been few buildings or structures at all for the local alien population on this path they'd traveled through, with the main city with all the diplomats and officials the paladins had been meeting far behind them in the opposite direction. The surroundings had become more dense with plant life as they'd sped by, until the last light of the setting suns was barely poking through.

"We're here," Keith said as the speeder came to a stop.

'Here' didn't seem much different from the rest of the area or anything they'd passed before. But Shiro trusted Keith and slid off the seat with him, taking their goggles off to pocket them. He looked around as Keith wandered a few steps down the bridge, squinting as if maybe he could spy whatever mystery Keith wanted to show him, but nothing caught his attention.

"It might be... a few more minutes," Keith muttered, almost to himself.

"You've gotten good at this 'patience' thing," Shiro said, sliding his arm across Keith's shoulders and gently pulling him in against his side. Keith laughed gently when Shiro pressed a kiss to his head.

"Well, you've always been someone worth learning to wait for." Keith didn't seem to notice the way Shiro's heart briefly stopped before pounding twice as fast, or the rapid flush in his face, or the way he nearly lost his balance with how suddenly his knees went weak. Keith's eyes were focused on the plant life in the distance while Shiro took deep breaths and had to swipe at his eyes as his vision had gotten a little blurry. "Wait, there— Can you use your hand?"

"Huh?" Shiro blinked, still trying to compose himself. Keith was too good at just _saying_ those kinds of heart-stopping earnest things, and then moving on as if he hadn't just made Shiro fall head over heels in love for the hundredth time.

Keith was pointing but when Shiro followed his gaze, all he saw was still foliage.

"There, can you, y'know, reach over there and touch that?"

"Uh. Sure," Shiro said, feeling thrown off balance. He wanted Keith to look at him, to show him just how moved he was. But he did as Keith asked, using his right hand to float across the swampy surface beneath them until he could almost grab at what looked like dark, damp leaves.

Except the leaves didn't appreciate being disturbed. The next moment his hand was being batted away as the creature he'd gotten too close to now exploded with movement, revealing a bright, luminescent purple underbelly as it took to the air and all the other not-actually-foliage reacted in kind. He was grateful for the technology and magic of his arm that let it return to his side without him concentrating on it, because he was too utterly stunned by the sight in front of them to give it another thought.

Thousands of what looked akin to giant butterflies were taking off in a flurry. Not all of them had the same number of wings and the patterns on their undersides came in so many different patterns and colors, he doubted there was a single pair that was the same despite the number of them. The dark water of the swamp began to shine just as bright as the sky, reflecting the bellies like a mirror and making the sight even more incredible. From what Shiro had seen of the local aliens who were close in size to the Arusians, these creatures were more than three times larger, and probably bigger than him, too. If Keith hadn't been the one to take him here to see them, he would've worried they'd be mistaken for a meal, but instead he just watched in amazement at the dancing rainbow patterns illuminating the sky in place of the suns along with the water beneath them, engulfing them in a world of light.

"Happy New Year," Keith said, tearing Shiro's attention away from the dazzling view with a quick kiss on his cheek. But Shiro wasn't satisfied with just that, bringing both his hands to Keith's face to kiss him deeply, pouring as much of his gratitude and awe into the brush of their tongues as he could.

When he finally slowed down for a breath, he kept their foreheads bumped together and his fingers stroking Keith's cheeks. He opened his eyes and saw Keith looking up at him, the corners of his eyes creasing from his soft smile.

"It's not quite the same, but I thought... y'know, New Years usually has fireworks, so I wanted to celebrate with something similar. They're a lot quieter, but that's kinda nice, right?"

Shiro blinked, his brain needing a moment to kickstart and remember there was more to the universe than just the two of them. Lifting his head up to look again at the kaleidoscope display as the alien creatures flew up into the darkening sky like a concert of fireworks, he had to agree.

"You're amazing."

"Me?" Keith asked, startled. 

"Yeah," Shiro said, looking back at him. He could stand there telling Keith how until the triplet suns rose back into the sky and not run out of reasons. But there were no words for the look on Keith's face between Shiro's palms, and certainly none for the feeling of Keith shyly dropping his forehead to Shiro's chest to hide his blush.

"I love you," Shiro said into his hair, dropping his hands to Keith's shoulders to squeeze them gently. "Thank you for this. For everything. I'm glad I can start the new year with you."

He had no idea what calendar was observed on this planet, and he couldn't remember how long it had actually been since they'd left Earth. But as far as Shiro was concerned, the year began now. He would rather track how time moved around him by the moments he shared with Keith than by any star in any sky.

Only a handful of the butterflies were left above them by the time Keith could lift his face from Shiro's jacket. Their private world of dazzling light was gone, replaced by the calm of the dark swamp and night sky. But the overjoyed smile Keith had as he finally said, "I love you, too," was more gorgeous than anything that could be found in this galaxy or the next.


End file.
